JP2017079044A - Install management system and install management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an install management system that allows a program to be automatically installed to an electronic instrument as managing a license.SOLUTION: An install management system includes an installation management server, and one or more installation instruments. The installation management server comprises: a license quantity management table that manages a quantity of licenses of an application program to be installed into the installation instrument; a license management unit that manages the license quantity management table; and an installation management unit that checks presence or absence of the license of the application program based on the license quantity management table on the basis of an instruction of causing the specified application program to be installed into the specified installation instrument from a user, and when there is the license of the specified application program, installs the specified application program into the specified installation instrument.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to an installation management system and an installation management method for installing an application program in an electronic device.

  Conventionally, various ideas have been made in order to flexibly operate licenses of application programs executed on electronic devices.

  For example, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when a license that enables execution of a plurality of application programs with one license is granted to one image forming apparatus (MFP, Multifunction Peripheral), the license management server Through this, a part of application programs not used in the image forming apparatus can be used in another image forming apparatus.

  In the technique of Patent Document 2, the application program installed in the image forming apparatus is executed based on the license data acquired from the license management server.

JP 2010-218458 A JP 2013-250997 A

  Conventionally, management of a license to be installed in an electronic device has been important, but the installation itself has to be performed manually while managing a license to be installed in each electronic device by an administrator of the electronic device.

  In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an installation management system and an installation management method capable of automatically installing a program on an electronic device while managing a license.

  To achieve the above object, an installation management system according to an aspect of the present invention includes an installation management server and one or more installation devices, and the installation management server can communicate with the one or more installation devices. A license number management table for managing the number of licenses of an application program installed in the installation device, a license management unit for managing the license number management table, and a designated application program from a user. Based on the instruction to be installed in the installation device, the presence / absence of the license of the designated application program is confirmed based on the license number management table, and the designated application program When there is the license, and a installation management unit to be installed on the specified designated the application program the installation equipment. Therefore, the program can be automatically installed in the electronic device while managing the license.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the installation management system according to one aspect of the present invention, the installation management server further includes an expiration date table for managing the expiration date of the license of the application program installed in the installation device. The installation management unit checks the expiration date of the license of the specified application program using the expiration date table in addition to the presence or absence of the license of the specified application program. When the license for the application program is available and the license for the designated application program is within the expiration date, the designated installation program is designated as the installation device. To install.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the installation management system according to an aspect of the present invention, the installation management unit includes installed device information indicating a free space for installing the application program in the one or more installed devices. Obtained and free space for installing the specified application program in the specified installation device using the installation device information in addition to the presence / absence and expiration date of the license of the specified application program The license for the designated application program is present, the license for the designated application program is within the expiration date, and the designated application program is When there is space to install, to install on the specified designated the application program the installation equipment.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the installation management method according to an aspect of the present invention, the license management unit of the installation management server manages a license number management table for managing the number of licenses of application programs installed in the installation device, Based on an instruction from the user to install the designated application program in the designated installation device by the installation management unit of the installation management server, the license number management table indicates whether or not the license of the designated application program exists. When the license for the specified application program is present, the specified application program is installed on the specified installation device. To.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a program can be automatically installed in an electronic device while managing licenses.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an installation management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram in case the installation management server 10 is comprised by a general computer. It is a figure which shows the example of the license number management table 17b. It is a figure which shows the example of the expiration date table 17c. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of processing in the installation management system 1;

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[overall structure]
First, the overall configuration of an installation management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an installation management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the installation management system 1 includes an installation management server 10 and one or more installation devices 20. The installation management server 10 and the installation device 20 are connected via a network.

  When an administrator (or user) of the installation management system 1 instructs the installation management server 10 to install a specific application program (hereinafter abbreviated as an application) for a specific installation device 20, the installation is performed after determining the conditions. The management server 10 installs the designated application on the designated installation device 20.

  The overall configuration of the installation management system according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

[Install Management Server Configuration]
Next, the configuration of the installation management server 10 will be described. The installation management server 10 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram when the installation management server 10 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the installation management server 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11, a read only memory (ROM) 12, a random access memory (RAM) 13, an operation input unit 14, a communication unit 15, a display unit 16, And a storage unit 17, and these blocks are connected via a bus 18.

  The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, various data, an application program 17a, a license number management table 17b, an expiration date table 17c, and installed device information 17d.

  The application program 17a is an application that is installed in the installation device 20 and executed.

  The license number management table 17b is a table for managing the number of licenses of applications installed in the installation device 20. Details will be described later.

  The expiration date table 17 c is a table for managing the expiration date of the license of the application installed in the installation device 20. Details will be described later.

The installed device information 17d is information indicating how much free space remains in the installed device 20 where the application is installed to store the application.

  The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with an external device such as the installation device 20.

  The CPU 11 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 14 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 or the storage unit 17 in the RAM 13, and the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 17 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 11 will be described.

  Functional blocks implemented in the CPU 11 of the installation management server 10 are an application providing unit 11a, a license management unit 11b, an installed device management unit 11c, and an installation management unit 11d.

  The application providing unit 11a provides the application program 17a to the installation device 20 in which the application is installed. The provided application program 17a is installed and executed in the installation device 20. Each application program 17a is assigned and managed with an application ID (Identification) for uniquely identifying the application program 17a.

  The license management unit 11b manages licenses of applications installed in the installation device 20 using the license number management table 17b and the expiration date table 17c.

  The installed device management unit 11c manages information related to the installed device 20, for example, a free space necessary for installing an application, a network address necessary for communicating with the installed device 20, and the like.

  The installation management unit 11d installs the designated application to the designated installation device 20 in accordance with an instruction from the administrator or user of the installation management system 1.

  The configuration of the installation management server 10 has been described above.

[About the license management table]
Next, the license number management table 17b will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the license number management table 17b.

  As shown in the figure, in the license number management table 17b, for each application ID of an application installed in the installation device 20, the total number of licenses held by the installation management system 1, and the number of licenses installed and in use in the installation device 20 , And the number of unused licenses.

  For example, in the application whose application ID is 001, the total number of licenses is 10 and the number of licenses in use is 3, so the number of unused licenses is 7.

  The license number management table 17b has been described above.

[About expiration date table]
Next, the expiration date table 17c will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the expiration date table 17c.

  As shown in the figure, the expiration date table 17c manages the expiration date of the license of the application for each license.

  For example, an application with an application ID of 001 has three licenses with license IDs A01, A02, and A03, and the expiration date of the license with a license ID of A01 is September 23, 2016.

  The expiration date table 17c has been described above.

[Process flow]
Next, the flow of processing in the installation management system 1 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing in the installation management system 1.

  First, the installation management unit 11d receives an instruction to install a specific application on the specific installation device 20 from the administrator or user of the installation management system 1 via the operation input unit 14 or the like (step S1).

  Next, the installation management unit 11d acquires the application ID of the application to be installed from the application providing unit 11a (step S2).

  Next, the installation management unit 11d acquires information (for example, free space) of the installation device 20 to be installed from the installation device management unit 11c (step S3).

  Next, the installation management unit 11d determines whether or not the installation device 20 that installs the application has enough free space to install the application (step S4).

  If there is no free space (N in step S4), the installation management unit 11d ends the process.

  If there is free space (Y in step S4), the installation management unit 11d then inquires of the license management unit whether there is a surplus of licenses for the application to be installed (step S5).

  If there are no more licenses (N in Step S5), the installation management unit 11d ends the process.

  If there are surplus licenses (Y in step S5), the installation management unit 11d next determines whether the license acquired from the surplus is within the expiration date (step S6).

  If it is not within the expiration date (N in Step S6), the installation management unit 11d ends the process.

  If it is within the expiration date (Y in step S6), the installation management unit 11d installs the application in the installation device 20 in cooperation with the installation device 20 in which the application is installed (step S7).

  The processing flow in the installation management system 1 has been described above.

[Additional notes]
As described above, the installation management system 1 of the present invention includes the installation management server 10 and one or more installation devices 20, and the installation management server 10 can communicate with the one or more installation devices 20. 15, a license number management table 17 b for managing the number of licenses of the application program installed in the installation device 20, a license management unit 11 b for managing the license number management table 17 b, and the specified application from the user Based on the instruction to install the program on the designated installation device 20, the presence / absence of the license of the designated application program is confirmed based on the license number management table 17b. When there is the license of the application program, and a installation management portion 11d to be installed on the specified designated the application program the installation equipment 20.

  In addition, this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, Of course, various changes can be added within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Installation management system 10 ... Installation management server 11 ... CPU
11a ... Application providing unit 11b ... License management unit 11c ... Installed device management unit 11d ... Installation management unit 12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Operation input part 15 ... Communication part 16 ... Display part 17 ... Memory | storage part 17a ... Application program 17b ... License number management table 17c ... Expiration date table 17d ... Installed apparatus information 18 ... Bus 20 ... Installed apparatus

Claims (4)

Includes an installation management server and one or more installation devices,
The installation management server is
A communication unit capable of communicating with the one or more installation devices;
A license number management table for managing the number of licenses of an application program installed in the installation device;
A license management unit for managing the license number management table;
Based on an instruction from the user to install the designated application program on the designated installation device, the presence of the license of the designated application program is confirmed based on the license number management table,
An installation management system comprising: an installation management unit that installs the designated application program on the designated installation device when the designated application program has the license. The installation management system according to claim 1,
The installation management server is
An expiration date table for managing an expiration date of the license of the application program installed in the installation device;
The installation management unit
In addition to the presence or absence of the license of the specified application program, the expiration date of the license of the specified application program is confirmed using the expiration date table,
When the license for the designated application program is present and the license for the designated application program is within an expiration date;
An installation management system for installing the designated application program on the designated installation device. The installation management system according to claim 2,
The installation management unit
In the one or more installation devices, obtain installation device information indicating a free space for installing the application program;
In addition to the presence / absence of the license and the expiration date of the specified application program, the installed device information is used to check a free space for installing the specified application program in the specified installation device. ,
When there is the license for the designated application program, the license for the designated application program is within an expiration date, and there is free space for installing the designated application program,
An installation management system for installing the designated application program on the designated installation device. The license management unit of the installation management server manages the license number management table for managing the number of licenses of application programs installed on the installation device.
Based on an instruction from the user to install the designated application program in the designated installation device by the installation management unit of the installation management server, the license number management table indicates whether or not the license of the designated application program exists. An installation management method that installs the designated application program on the designated installation device when the license for the designated application program is available.

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